Above photo: These affordable units built by ‘Aina Le’a more than a decade ago are still not ready for sale. What’s been happening recently with ʻAina Leʻa, the development that has been proposed for around 1,000 acres across Queen Kaʻahumanu … Continued
Poems and Pinions: One of the heaviest, most serious tomes in any reputable library of a Hawaiʻi conservation biologist is Alien Plant Invasions in Native Ecosystems of Hawaiʻi, edited by Charles Stone, Cliff Smith, and Tim Tunison. And now that … Continued
On June 22, Alan Scott Rudo, a former staffer with the Hawai`i County Office of Housing and Community Development, signed a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, admitting his participation in a conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud. That plea … Continued
Sierra Club Appeals BLNR Decision Over Four East Maui Stream Permits For now, the four permits granted in 2020 by the Board of Land and Natural Resources to Alexander & Baldwin and its East Maui irrigation Company so they could … Continued
Two recent judicial rulings have sent the Land Use Commission back to court. The first, a ruling on May 2 by 3rd Circuit Judge Wendy DeWeese, overturned a Hawaiʻi County law, supported by the LUC, that banned short-term vacation rentals … Continued
Land Board Heeds Community’s Wishes In New Rules for Miloli‘i Fishing Area On June 9, seventeen years after the Legislature designated Miloli`i as a Community Based Subsistence Fishing Area (CBSFA), the state Board of Land and Natural Resources approved rules … Continued
How did a newly minted company get the County of Hawai‘i to purchase 13 acres of land for it? With only $1,000 in out-of-pocket expenses the company was able to acquire land valued by the county at $948,200. It later … Continued
Hawai‘i County’s affordable housing policy is a disaster. Other counties have their problems as well when it comes to addressing the shelter needs of households who are priced out of market-rate rentals. But on the Big Island, the insanely complicated … Continued
Above photo: Office of Housing and Community Development administrator Suzan Kunz. Hawai‘i County, like every other county in the state, struggles with the problem of affordable housing. Unlike the others, though, it has a law – Chapter 11 of the … Continued
On the chilly but clear day of December 2, 2016, around 10:30 in the morning, the building housing the old Copper Lounge in downtown Sioux Falls, South Dakota, collapsed. A contractor working on the first floor had removed two load-bearing … Continued